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ANIMATED SUBJECTS:
GLOBALIZATION, MEDIA, AND EAST ASIAN CULTURAL IMAGINARIES
by
Jiwon Ahn
A Dissertation Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
(CRITICAL STUDIES)
May 2008
Copyright 2008 Jiwon Ahn

This dissertation is an examination of the process by which cultural texts and related products of Japanese animation (anime) are received differently in different locales, inducing polyvalent meanings embodied by various kinds of fan practices, artistic and commercial re-appropriation, and the reconfiguration of the existing film culture. Situated within a larger discussion on the impacts of cultural globalization on our everyday life (an overview of which is provided in the Introduction), I suggest that studying specific experiences of individual subjects who utilize global media products in their everyday lives can serve as a useful counterweight to the fear of global monoculture, and a means of transcending the increasingly restrictive debates on " global vs. local."; In its first five chapters, the dissertation provides a comparative analysis of anime fan cultures and the consequent industrial and institutional developments in North America, South Korea, and Japan, at different historical moments. In particular, Chapter 1 examines generational differences and changing implications of being a fan of Japanese animation under the postcolonial conditions of South Korea in the 1990s, while Chapter 2 focuses on varied implications of participating in "cosplay" (costume+play) in Japan and North America, which enables us to examine different notions of fan cultures and subcultures. Chapter 3 through 5 consider the dialogic practices between art and commerce in the appropriation of anime inspirations: with a special emphasis on fan art production and its incorporation into the mainstream art scene in Chapter 3, on character design and toy manufacturing in Chapter 4, and fanzine discourse and DIY aesthetics as trans-local cultural strategies in Chapter 5.; In its concluding chapter, the dissertation suggests a strong connection between the transnational flow of anime influences and the transformation of a larger, global film culture. Overall, the dissertation argues that we can consider the "animation" of individual subjects in the context of globalization, evidenced in the case of transnational anime fan cultures, as an emancipation of human subjectivity from the constrictive framework of understanding our identities and selfhood in modernity, even if the conditions of such animation are thoroughly commercialized and methodically mediated by various media technologies.

ANIMATED SUBJECTS:
GLOBALIZATION, MEDIA, AND EAST ASIAN CULTURAL IMAGINARIES
by
Jiwon Ahn
A Dissertation Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
(CRITICAL STUDIES)
May 2008
Copyright 2008 Jiwon Ahn